IT WAS ALL ABOUT OLD GLORY, AS MAINERS AND AMERICANS HONORED "FLAG DAY" TODAY. THE PORTLAND OBSERVATORY OPENED ITS DOORS FOR PUBLIC TOURS IN HONOR OF FLAG DAY ... IT WAS KICKED OFF BY THE CEREMONIAL RAISING OF THE FLAG. THE OBSERVATORY IS A NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK AND IS THE LAST REMAINING MARITIME SIGNAL TOWER IN THE UNITED STATES. "It's a maritime signal tower. It was built really as a communication device back in the days when there weren't any telephones or telegraphs and it used visual means so when they spotted a ship with a telescope from the top they would raise a flag and that meant to everyone in the town that it was time to muster the longshoreman, get the cargo to the next site." FLAG DAY HONORS THE ADOPTION OF THE AMERICAN FLAG, WHICH HAPPENED TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY SEVEN YEARS AGO TODAY. THE U-S ARMY ALSO CELEBRATES ITS BIRTHDAY ON FLAG DAY.